| Country: |
Russian Federation |
| Alternate Name: |
Stingray, RSM-50, R-29R, Volyna |
| Class: |
SLBM |
| Basing: |
Submarine launched |
| Length: |
14.60 m |
| Diameter: |
1.80 m |
| Launch Weight: |
35300 kg |
| Payload: |
7 MIRV warheads |
| Warhead: |
Nuclear 100 kT |
| Propulsion: |
2-stage liquid |
| Range: |
6500 km |
| Status: |
Terminated |
| In Service: |
1978-1991 |
Details
Russian Designation: R-29R Volna/RSM-50/3M40
The SS-N-18 is an intercontinental-range, submarine-launched, liquid-propellant ballistic missile. It is almost certainly an evolution of the SS-N-8 missile, as the many similarities between the missiles would represent considerable cost inefficiency if the SS-N-18 was an entirely new design. The SS-N-18 was designed for the ‘Delta III,' called the Kalmar class in Russia, which are mostly deployed in the North Atlantic. With the cost of maintaining the more modern ‘Typhoon’ class precluding continued deployment, the ‘Delta III’ class submarines will represent the crux of the Russian sea based ballistic missile threat for the foreseeable future. Each submarine carries sixteen missiles.
The SS-N-18 Mod 1 missile entered service in 1977; it employed three MIRV warheads armed with 200 kT nuclear yields. The SS-N-18 Mod 3 entered service the following year alongside the SS-N-18 Mod 2. The Mod 1 carries three MIRV; the Mod 2 carries a single RV; the Mod 3 carries seven MIRV, giving it far more targeting opportunities than the other version of the SS-N-18. Each MIRV carries a 100 kT nuclear warhead, giving the missile an accumulative force of 700 kT nuclear yield. The missile has a maximum range of 6500 km.
Like the other SS-N-18 missiles, the Mod 3 has an accuracy of 900 m CEP. All versions have a length of 14.6 m, a body diameter of 1.8 m and a launch weight of 35,300 kg. They use an inertial guidance system coupled with a stellar sensor which tracks star locations to find the relative position of the warhead. They are all likely equipped with decoys. The missiles use a two-stage, liquid propellant engine.
The SS-N-18 Mod 3 is a strategic asset which could be easily secured against US attack. With a range sufficient to strike the continental US from Russian territorial waters, anywhere in the world can be targeted from international waters. The payload and accuracy of the missile are ill suited for strikes on hardened targets, thus making it more likely that the missile would be used against soft targets as a deterrent weapon. The seven MIRV units would allow the missile to spread nuclear destruction over a much broader area (in a city, for example) than a missile carrying a single, 700 kT warhead. MIRV technology also has potential advantages against missile defense systems.
Development of the SS-N-18 began in 1968 and the missiles were first tested from land-based launch sites in 1975 and from a submarine in 1976. The Mod 1 entered service in the Soviet Union in 1977, with the Mod 2 and Mod 3 entering in 1978. Following the provisional Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), all the SS-N-18 missiles were reportedly equipped to the Mod 1 design, despite passing the seven MIRV limit outlined by START with the Mod 3 version. Some sources contradict this claim and suggest that all the SS-N-8 missiles currently carry 4 MIRV warheads with unknown yields.(1) In any case, it is believed that the Mod 3 version was removed from service in 1991.
In 1991, 14 ‘Delta III’ submarines remained in service, with only six still in service by June 2007. It is believed that only 70 to 90 SS-N-18 (Mod 1) missiles remained by June 2007. It is expected that they will remain in service until 2010.(2)
Footnotes
1. Pavel Podvig, ed., Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001).
2. Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, Issue 50, ed. Duncan Lennox, (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2009) 155-156.
Russia Launches Two Missiles
November 2, 2004 :: News
While America was electing a president, Russia today tested two ballistic missiles, symbols of its status as a major power capable of threatening the West. The mobile land-based SS-25 (Topol) missile was launched from the Pletesk cosmodrome located some 200 miles northeast of St. Petersburg, and traveled to the missile range on the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula. The SS-N-18 (R-29R) missile was launched from a submarine of the Pacific Fleet, the Project 667BDR (Delta III)-class St. George the Victor, in the Sea of Okhotsk (next to the Kamchatka peninsula). (More »»»)
» Podvig on missile launches
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-25, SS-N-18 Mod 1, SS-N-18 Mod 3
Russia Launches Two Submarine-Based ICBMs
September 8, 2004 :: Interfax :: News
Hours after Russia announced it would conduct preemptive strikes against terrorist bases, Russia’s Northern Fleet today launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles from submarines.
According to Itar Tass, the first missile was launched from the Yekaterinburg, and the second, some two hours later, from the Borisoglebsk, both nuclear-powered Delta-IV class ballistic missile submarines. A Russian defense official is cited as saying that “In both cases the launches were carried out from the waters of the Barents Sea in the sector of the Kura training area on Kamchatka. The dummy warheads hit the targets on the training area.” The Kamchatka peninsular missile range is located on Russia’s far eastern, Pacific coast.
Update: The missile fired from the Yekaterinburg was an R-29M (SS-N-23), that fired from the Borisoglebsk was an R-29R (SS-N-18).
Update: Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov commented on September 20 that both missiles were carrying three independently targetable warheads, all six of which successfully hit their targets. (Article, Link)
» Sep. 8, 2004: Xinhau on SLBM launches
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-N-18 Mod 3, SS-N-23
